51. Eric Stonestreet's "Modern Family" role : CAM. In his role as Cameron Tucker on Modern Family, Stonestreet has earned three consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (2010, 2011 and 2012), winning the award in 2010 and 2012. He also received three Golden Globe Award nominations (2010, 2011 and 2013) for his work on the series.

54. New Zealand fruit : KIWI

56. Affirmative vote : YEA The other side. 13D. Negative votes : NAYS

58. Pepsi competitor : RC COLA

60. Slip past : EVADE

64. Judge's hammer : GAVEL

65. Jacob's first wife : LEAH

66. Lewd material : SMUT

67. Go on tiptoe : SNEAK

68. Like centerfolds : SEXY

69. Glazed Easter meats : HAMS

Down:

1. Does a farm job : MILKS. I guess mucks isn't a Monday word.

2. Author Zola : ÉMILE. "J'accuse"

3. "Poison" plant : SUMAC

4. Peak : APEX

5. Cornucopia : HORN OF PLENTY

6. "__ Life to Live" : ONE. A soap opera that had a 43 year run. Any fans?

7. Dance move : STEP

8. Got into shape, with "up" : TONED

9. __-Wan Kenobi : OBI. Star Wars.

10. Agile thief : CAT BURGLAR

11. Yosemite monolith popular with rock climbers : EL CAPITAN

12. Pale as a ghost : ASHY

18. Red-carpet garment : GOWN

22. Commendable : PRAISE WORTHY

26. Black-and-white cookies : OREOs

28. Yang counterpart : YIN

29. "That never occurred to me" : "I HAD NO IDEA"

30. Ancient storyteller : AESOP

32. Forbidden act : NO-NO

33. Fed. agents : G-MEN

34. Quick inhalation : GASP

35. Running track shape : OVAL

36. Seaside disaster cause : TIDAL WAVE

38. 1995 Reform Party founder : PEROT. (H. Ross Perot)

43. Singer Reed : LOU

47. Engrave on glass, say : ETCH

49. Makes watertight : SEALS

51. Punctuation mark in large numbers : COMMA

52. Scrapbook : ALBUM

53. Supports for sails : MASTS

54. Tapped beer holders : KEGS

55. Tennis great Lendl : IVAN

57. Out of the wind : ALEE

59. Like an easy job, slangily : CUSH. (cushy)

61. Moose relative : ELK

63. Southern Cal. airport : LAX

Argyle

1) Belatedly Happy Birthday to Lea's grandma Kay (Kazie), who joined
this blog the year I started. I'm awfully sorry that I blanked on
Saturday morning, Kay! We've been in a frenzy to prepare for our card
show next week. I hope Barry and you did something special.

Kay and her husband Barry on Tamborine Mountain, overlooking Brisbane

2) The real Big Easy sent me these pictures of Justin Rose, the winner (22 under
par) of the Zurich Classics. Big Easy has been volunteering for the
event for years. The other Big Easy skipped the event.

68 comments:

Very smooth solve today. Had a minor brain fart down in the SE due to CAM being unknown, but that was about the only bump in the road for me today. I really enjoyed seeing those long non-theme answers in the grid.

This one was PRAISE WORTHY with some nice long downs and an elusive theme.

I don't recognize CAM, but then I've never seen Modern Family.

When I was a wee lad I had a little golden record (remember those?) with Sousa marches on it: EL CAPITAN on one side and Semper Fideles on the reverse. When I first heard of the monolith in Yosemite, I supposed it was named after the march. D'oh!

I enjoyed today; thanks Mark. I agree Argyle-- a bit of panache. Thanks.

An easy run today judging by the lack of erasure blurs on the newsprint. Like Barry, I enjoyed the long fills. I struggled with IM UP also, but then I read it to mean "yes," which is probably what I would have answered. I liked COMMA. My former students once had a teacher whose mantra was "When in doubt, use a comma." I always knew which kids had her. Commas can be like carpet tacks. If you've ever torn up carpeting, you know what I mean.

Well, I finished a crossword or the first time in a few days. I started Sunday's and it is far from finished. Maybe later today.

Today's went quite easily. The theme came easily, as well. Had ALL THUMBS before any of the theme answers.

I, also, did not know CAM. Perps.

KLAXON gave me APEX.

I used to work a lot with BALSA wood as a youth. Made lots of model airplanes. Made a free flight plane once that we put too much gas in and it flew so far we never did find it.

Have not seen EMILE Zola for quite a while.

I have to finish cutting my grass. Started yesterday. Then, lots of gardening to get into. I think the frosts are about over. I have over 300 seedlings to get into the ground. Both here and in Pennsylvania.

An easy, breezy start to the week. Confidently filled in tangerine but perps quickly changed that to lime green. Other than that, smooth sailing. Thumbs up to Mark Bickham and Argyle for a fun Monday outing.

missed the end of last week due to travel; saw that MOE was used as a clue/solve on either Friday or Sat. Also, our Sunday paper carries both the LAT and NYT puzzles, and both puzzles were constructed by Don Hard G and CC! Very cool!

Today's puzzle was pretty easy despite some longer fills. Very nice for a Monday; challenging yet doable. A lot of it - including the "theme/reveal" was achieved via perps. I might be the only person in American who's never watched Modern Family, as CAM was a complete perp

This was a nice start to the week. I liked the longer fill.I think the only time I've heard klaxon might have been in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.It took a few perps to get lime green.Park paths to me are trails, so again I needed any letter there to wake up my brain.My first thought for El Capitan was Half Dome, a completely different "rock". In January, 2 climbers actually scaled that granite monolith using only hands, feet and a safety rope. It made headlines in our paper.

Happy Belated birthday Kazie! ¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨* I thought about you on our most recent trip to Australia and NZ. What beautiful countries.

THANK YOU , Argyle for again explaining the theme. What, no green thumb in there?

Puzzle was Monday level no brainer. Had to go back over it. Didn't read most down clues.

Modern Family is unknown to many bloggers? I really can't believe this. IMO, included in the "best comedy of all time " list. Represents how a "real" family acts, warts and all. What show do you bloggers enjoy? Would be interested to know.

As to One Life to Live. Watched it for almost forty years, along with A.M.C. and G.H., among others. With the invention of the VCR, I was able to record all my shows while at work. My downfall came when I added new serials, and became overwhelmed. Had to eventually go cold turkey. Giving them up was as hard as quitting cigarettes. But I did love them. Take a peek once in a while on G.H. Everyone is so old! But the strorylines never change.

I was in Georgia yesterday for a wedding, & grabbed the hotel paper on the way out as an afterthought. I was pleasantly surprised to find two Sunday puzzles in the Atlanta paper, both of them Don & CC! I did the LA Times on the plane, but I am saving the NY Times for my next trip...

CED @ 3:04 - My stomach hurts from laughing so hard at your links, especially the first one and, even more so, the last one. SUP?, indeed! (I thought Mr. Meow was kinda cute, but I guess you don't. Actually, I thought it was Purr-fect!) 😢

I zipped through this one then got stumped in the SW corner. DUH! I've watched the show several times but didn't remember Stonestreet's character was CAM. I've heard of CUSHy but not CUSH so that was a stopper. But couldn't come up with COMMA (read the clue wrong) or ALBUM. Finally went to HAMS & SMUT and worked back up.

COMMAs: I'm redoing my trust/will papers and the run-on sentences with umpty-two COMMAS is driving me nuts as I type it. As an old newspaper editor, I keep trying to edit the unwieldy sentences to no avail. BTW I think serial COMMAS are unnecessary if preceding "and".

I saw an interview with Stonestreet where he said he is married to a woman and definitely not gay. No wonder he got acting awards for it.

Justin Rose won?! Begorrah! I forgot to watch the bloomin' golf tournament yesterday. I turned it on Saturday and it was rained out. I get my news on the blog first a lot of times.

Happy birthday, Kazie, and many more!

BillG: we called him "Yos-might Sam", too. A funny miss-pronunciation I remember was my aunt calling Deborah from the Bible story, "d-BORE'-ah. Her childhood Sunday School teacher called it that and the whole town went along. We were contemplating a name for my mom's expected baby at the time. He would have been Debra.

Eric Stonestreet (CAM) isn't gay but the other guy playing Mitchell is.

Sofia Vergara (Gloria) is drop-dead gorgeous especially once you know she is 40 years old and she is smart and funny.

One of the math teachers at our school mispronounced a lot of words. I always wondered why. When I have a student come for tutoring who pronounces 'parabola' as 'pa-lab-o-ra', I know they had this teacher for math the year before.

YEA, almost a DNF with my farm hands MILLing @1d and not knowing what 20a was (learning moment), I was sure it was jalopy related and had nothing to do with a llama. But, NAY, no DNF - an alphabet-run brought in the MILK.

What C. Moe said re: sub-them - SEXY. Moe EVADEd CAM banging is little GAVEL (Python). DW likes Modern Family so I've seen a few episodes; they're fun but cringeWORTHY.

WEES re fabulous fill. Just wish I had a Moon Pie to go w/ my RC COLA :-) RC COLA and a Moon Pie - not the original, but I like it.

Two THUMBS UP. Very well done Mr. Bickham. And, I'd be remiss not to mention Argyle as our Monday HOST. Thanks.

HBD Kazie!

PK - DeBra?

HG - Captions: "OK, but just for today" (Boehner) or "Really? They love me, they really love me." (Peloci). Both are HAMS.

Thunderstorms passed through and left Hurricane-WORTHY street flooding, downed trees and power lines, and general mess. Several rail cars were blown off the railroad bridge over the Mississippi River. By the wind! Who knew wind could do that and not be called a hurricane?

But I was dry inside doing the smile-inducing puzzle and reading Argyle's laugh out loud expo. Thanks, guys!!

Loved the long ...but discernible...fills, and Aesop and Klaxon.

I see ASEA is back with us. Welcome back!

I am an Oxford comma devotee. Sometimes a series will include one entity with X and Y. So....A, B, C, X and Y...is not the same as A, B, C, X, and Y.

Yes...sigh...I know there are arguments on the other side. I've herd them....

Do remember Faulkner's sentence in The Bear. Some say the longest in the English language.

Grammar is fluid as the many style sheets illustrate. I had a tendency to use Strunk and White for it's Miesian approach to writing. I found it good for high schoolers, but I insisted they remember to follow the style sheets of their various college departments and jobs.

My son failed a first year history class at an Ivy because he used MLA on a final paper, which the required form throughout high school, rather than APA. He had the summer to rewrite the paper citing in APA style. His professor knew he wasn't cheating, but rules are rules. A learning experience for that now diligent attorney.

Swamp Cat- Had to drive down Clearview Pkwy this afternoon and the RR cars blown off the bridge were the shipping containers from ships that were double-decked on flatcars. Directly behind Copelands and Jaegers restaurants.

Coneyro- "Modern Family" and most other shows are unfamiliar to those of us who do not care about watching television dramas a comedies. So, CAM was a total blank to me. Maybe if the clue were "_____-shaft" but the television shows just do not interest me.

An especially interesting, easy Monday puzzle with the long downs. I didn't know CAM, but it and LOU were completed before I got to them. KLAXON was a gimme.Lucina, isn't it exciting to watch our grandchildren grow up? I'll bet your granddaughter looked gorgeous. I will go to see my almost 17 year old grandson's play on Saturday. He loves to sing.Happy belated birthday, Kazie. I hope it was delightful.Branch Brook Park in NJ is noted for the largest collection of cherry blossom trees in the United States, having over 4,300 in more than fourteen different varieties. (More than in Washington DC) The blossoms are spectacular. More than 1000 additional trees will be added by next year. Link lovely I went for an MRI tonight. The faxed prescription was no where to be found. I need a new appointment. This snafu caused me to missed Jeopardy for nothing Grrr!

Sorry I missed you all today. I was gone all weekend at a convention in Milwaukee, and since my return things have been so hectic today that after finishing the CW this morning I just got busy with several situations that all hit at once and I never came here.

Then a couple of hours ago, I saw C.C.'s email letting me know you'd all been sending me birthday greetings, and I promised to come here then, but again I was distracted by a drawn out session on the phone and online with an insurance question.

I had lots of help celebrating on Saturday since the state president announced to everyone that it was my birthday, and they all sang HBTY to me. Then when I got home yesterday, DH had some nice gifts for me, and we enjoyed a great meal together.

Thanks to you all for the kind wishes, and I'm sorry I wasn't here all day to respond until now!

Ah, those "a" words do have an everyday use. In news of the Baltimore riots we hear cars were set afire and shops were ablaze. Maybe the "a" words seem strange in isolation, but I have heard and read most of the a words that have been panned used in contexts like this. In these kinds of contexts the "a" words seem natural.

Thanks, Big Easy, for your explanation of the shipping containers on the RR flat cars . Makes sense. I wondered how a few, but not all, rail cars could be derailed without pulling the whole train off the tracks. Especially as it was on an elevated bridge.

The pictures on TV were just a mess of metal, and the commentators kept saying Railroad Cars.

CED - Sorry for the diversion. Yeah, not their best sketch that - but funny if you think of the history/discovery of mustard gas (ok, not funny, but a humorous juxtaposition). Thanks for the Moon Pie / RC COLA link. We had those up north, but DW says it was a staple in her neck of the the woods (Farmersville, LA - how'd we ever meet?).

YR - I was lucky to be in DC during the blossoms in 2012 while consulting for USDA. Absolutely gorgeous. USDA - How to catch ONTO farmer spys(?).

CED, I'm glad you didn't get that 10 minutes back. I enjoyed that Monty Python sketch about the joke all over again just as much as the first four or give times I saw it. Their best stuff (Dead Parrot, etc.) is among my favorite humorous sketches ever. (Include Fawlty Towers too.)

Frogs... MIL told me about a recent Python appearance on Fallon's show but I couldn't find the full interview from 4 days ago - so here's one from 2012. CED - cope :-)

M. Defarge - Thanks. It was MLA that DW tried to get me to follow, but I showed her IEEE's std's and she gave up. Neither could address URL citing in '93 so I just made WAVEs (read - I just made it up).

Hope all is quiet and well in LA now for SwampCat and Big Easy.

Bill G. re: Faulty Towers. Dad & I would watch that every Sat. Fav line: "Would you like the hotel moved a bit to the left dear..."

Re. Fawlty Towers: There was too much good stuff for me to single out one favorite. One memorable one involved a crotchety old lady with a hearing aid who was complaining about her room. And then there was Manuel... Too much good stuff.